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Old January 29, 2013   #1
augiedog55
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Default wintering spider mites

I've got a question for you experts.
Last yr I grew my tomatoes in smart pots. Out of all my plants in them 3 had spider mites. Here is my question. I wasn't thinking and after the frost i emptied all my bags and put them in my garage in a pile. Here is my question. By bringing them in my garage will they hatch down there over the winter and contaminate all the bags they were in contact with and the surrounding area?? Also if they haven't hatched is there anything I can wash all my bags in that will kill them?
My garage is the place I'm going to grow my seedlings in this spring.. Did I mess up big time by bringing those bags in? Am I doomed from the start for growing my seedlings in the garage ?AGGHHHHHHHHH
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Old January 29, 2013   #2
Hotwired
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The two-spotted female can overwinter if the temperatures are above freezing and they can find shelter. I've never used smart pots, but I understand that the roots can grow right through the material. I'm assuming that there's significant residue left on the bag surfaces.

I'd be scrubbing them down with soap and water or visiting a laundromat. I would be concerned about using dirty containers of any kind. I run all my hard-side pots through the dishwater. Gardening is hard enough without importing last years problems.
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Old January 29, 2013   #3
RayR
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I just had a bout with two-spotted spider mites indoors. I had some extra Alpine Strawberry plants that never got planted in containers outdoors, they were looking sad and undernourished so I brought them in for the winter to play around with under lights. Last week I noticed that the leaves didn't look right so I checked for bugs and found some spider mites and eggs under the leaves.
Looking for cures for spider mites on Strawberry, I found one university site that recommended using rubbing alcohol 2:1 with water. Alcohol is deadly toxic to spider mites and isn't toxic to Strawberry leaves. (some plants are sensitive to alcohol, so if you try it test it first on one leaf and wait a few days) I sprayed the mixture under the leaves every day for 4 days as I wasn't certain if it killed the eggs too, and checked for life. On the 5th day there was no sign of any spider mites except dead bodies. It's been about 5 days since then and no sign of life.
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Old January 29, 2013   #4
augiedog55
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I'm hoping since I brought them in this winter and they had no way of getting any green food source that if they did hatch a hatch of babies , all of them would die because of starvation. I did put smart pots in plastic bags and put them in the freezer. I will take them to the laundery mat this spring before using them again.I'm thinking about starting my seedlings in the laundrey room instead of the garage just in case.
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Old January 29, 2013   #5
Cole_Robbie
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Put a couple of these in the garage, and you won't have mites.
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Old January 29, 2013   #6
augiedog55
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Cole, Thanks for the advice.But I have one problem with those. My garage sits right above the room my parrot is in.Birds respiratory systems are very sensative to chemicals of any kind.I guess I could buy a couple of the bug strips and put the grow bags with a strips in a trash bag and set them outside to kill anything on the grow bags in the spring.

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Old January 29, 2013   #7
Cole_Robbie
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If you do the bag thing, just tear off a corner of the strip's package. They are plenty strong, especially in a bag. They can turn leaves yellow and black, especially on seedlings, so use them judiciously. I wouldn't use them unless you can see mites, as they can damage plants, but anything is better than mites. Once the mites are dead, the plant should grow out of whatever damage the chemicals caused.
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Old January 30, 2013   #8
bower
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I have been searching high and low for alternative mite management strategies for my potted citrus, and looking into the 'hot dipping' strategy for woody plants. Very hard to find the information online, but I finally did get a few leads. The 'temperature time' values for killing mite eggs (on pots, greenhouse floors etc) should be easier to find, for washing up pots, growbags, etcetera but it is not. All kinds of precise data is available for bacteria and fungi, not so for insect pests (except bedbugs, of course!).

The best I can find is a reference from California Agricultural Experiment Station Extension Service Manual 23 (from 1957!) when they were setting parameters for steam sterilization of soils which are still quoted by ag services and manuals today. It says mite eggs "cannot long survive" temperatures of 140-160 F.
http://openlibrary.org/books/OL25397592M/The_U._C._system_for_producing_healthy_container-grown_plants
http://www.archive.org/stream/ucsyst...ge/n3/mode/2up
According to the manual, 140-160F is the temerature range that kills soil insects, 160F also kills all plant pathogenic bacteria and most plant viruses.

Most of the steam treatments in the manual are for 30 minutes, for example, containers are steamed at 180 F for 30 minutes. But it also says that moss and algae are killed in 2 minutes at 212 F.
So I think it's like microbial stuff, as a rule, the higher the temperature, the lower the time. Immersed in hotter water, soapy or a bit of bleach or oxyclean, all helps when it comes to cleaning the grow bags, and if you dry in a hot dryer, even more sure. Use the longer wash cycle just to be on the safest side.

As for dipping living plants, I can't see it happening with tomatoes. But citrus and peppers are another thing.... may be worth a try. Pascal Pirone (Diseases and Pests of Ornamental Plants 5th Edition) uses 43C (109 F) dip for mites on ornamentals, or 15 minutes/40C (104 F) for more sensitive plants (ferns), he says you have to test for yourself and decide whether the treatment is fatal or beneficial for specific plant species as they are all different... There is a risk of harming your plants, but higher temperature/shorter time is no risk to your grow bags of course! (well I hope not)

A few accounts of methods for ornamentals/perennials online maybe of interest to other pepper/citrus growers (or should I say mite growers):
http://www.hiddenvalleyhibiscus.com/...pidermites.htm uses 90F water, 60 minutes. That's a gentler approach???
http://www.fuchsiaclark.pwp.blueyond...&_diseases.htm uses a five second dip at 44-48 C (112-118 F) ?with optional miticide added (might try neem?)

and a recipe with bleach : " 1 tbl. / gallon of 95F, ph balanced, water. Make sure you soak every surface if possable dip the plant. The bleach will kill the mites and acts as an ovicide..." is reported as a pot grower's method. That might even work on tomatoes... or maybe it would be worse than a few mites!
Just now, I'm ready to risk my poor Meyer lemon with an experimental hot dip, in hopes there are no mites to spread to little peppers and tomatoes!
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Old January 30, 2013   #9
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I wonder how Neem meal would work. It's the byproduct of pressing neem oil from neem seeds. It is a potent pesticide, not killing them but forcing them to make their home elsewhere. I sprinkle a little on the soil surface of containers in my greenhouse and it completely eliminated my white fly epidemic. I sprinkled it on the soil around my cucumber plants and it totally eliminated cucumber beetles that have plagued me for years. I haven't had spider mites since I started using it, though I can't say it was because of the neem manure. It did eliminate the whiteflies within 24 hours, so I can be sure it was the neem.
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Old January 30, 2013   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotwired View Post
I wonder how Neem meal would work. It's the byproduct of pressing neem oil from neem seeds. It is a potent pesticide, not killing them but forcing them to make their home elsewhere. I sprinkle a little on the soil surface of containers in my greenhouse and it completely eliminated my white fly epidemic. I sprinkled it on the soil around my cucumber plants and it totally eliminated cucumber beetles that have plagued me for years. I haven't had spider mites since I started using it, though I can't say it was because of the neem manure. It did eliminate the whiteflies within 24 hours, so I can be sure it was the neem.
I hadn't heard about the neem meal, it sounds great. I was trying to find neem oil last year and couldn't get it, but finally got some from a friend a few weeks ago, so my lime and lemon have had their first spray of that. She used it on her own lemon tree, said it only took one application. I guess I'll wait and see... I used a lot of soaps on them last year, and the pests just kept coming back.
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Old May 5, 2013   #11
z_willus_d
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Any hints as to where one mite (yes a pun) find the neem meal? Pricing? Side effects?
Thanks.
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Old May 5, 2013   #12
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I guess I should report, the neem oil spray didn't work for me - mites reappeared on my citrus as soon as we had a hot sunny day. Sad to say I didn't have the time or lets say the patience to try the hot dip, as I didn't want to risk my crop of young peppers, so I hucked the poor citrus trees outdoors in freezing february.
On the up side, I no longer have a mite problem!
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Old May 5, 2013   #13
Nick287
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I've had no luck with the no pest strips inside. My spider mites made a home out of it. I have use a herb mix that smells like cloves with good luck. But if I don't stay on top of the spray once a week or so they will slowly come back.
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Old May 5, 2013   #14
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That is really surprising to hear. They always worked great for me. Maybe I had a different variety of mites. I think mine were the two-spotted ones.
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Old May 6, 2013   #15
Hotwired
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Quote:
Originally Posted by z_willus_d View Post
Any hints as to where one mite (yes a pun) find the neem meal? Pricing? Side effects?
Thanks.
http://www.groworganic.com/neem-seed...-6-lb-box.html

The price just went up a buck to $13.99. A little goes a long way. I sprinkle a very little bit on the top of the soil, about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp per pot, crumbling it up with my fingers. I solves a lot of bug problems for me. I dissolves slowly over time, but once a month applications seem to work for me. I have heard of people spreading on the floor of the greenhouse to control mites, aphids, etc. I sprinkle it at the base of my emerging cucumber plants to repel cucumber beetles. They you chew the baby plants to the ground before I started using it. The side effect is that as it slowly dissolves, you're feeding your plants with a natural organic plant food.
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